Something Pleasant About England
by theatre-geek17
Summary: ONE-SHOT Don Malarkey meets a local girl right before leaving for Holland. MalarkeyOC


Okay so this is my first Band of Brothers story. It's obviously a MalarkeyOC. I mean absolutely no disrespect to these men in any way. This is just some random thing I came up with. I do own Emma and would prefer if you didn't take her. The_ italics_ are either Malarkey's thoughts (just the very first time) or flashbacks. Enjoy and please review.

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_This is how I need to be spending more of my nights_.

Don Malarkey was sitting against the headboard of the large bed, smoking a cigarette pleasantly. For once, it was a peaceful night in England and he was enjoying it as much as possible. Curled up next to him was a petite British girl named Emma. She was young, no older nineteen. Although, with all that had happened in the past few years, it could make her seem quite a bit older. Her dark hair was fanned out on the pillow below her and her green eyes were shut as she slept. The bed sheet covered her but he could still make out her stripped figure underneath it. His fingers lightly traced down her back and she shivered a bit in her sleep. He smiled a bit.

The two of them had met about a week earlier. Don had been in town with Skip Muck to drop off some uniforms at a local home where the women washed clothes for the men. They stopped at a little restaurant on their way back to the base to get some decent food for once. There'd been two young women waiting on the people who came in. Emma had been the one to wait on them. She was a refreshing change of pace for the two of them. She smiled, joked, and talked with them for nearly an hour when she wasn't bringing food to the few other customers. Before they left to head back to the base Don had invited her to the USO dance that night. She told him that she'd think about it.

_Don spent about the first half hour of the dance at the bar, sipping the British beer as he waited to see if she would show up. Skip had taken it upon himself to spread word among the other men from E Company that he'd asked out a local girl to the dance. Every few minutes one of the guys from Easy would stop by and ask if he'd been stood up or not. Don would just roll his eyes and give a punch in the arm. He didn't let any of them see the anxiousness he was feeling. Jumping out of planes was no problem for him but for some reason this girl was making him nervous. _

_After he'd had about three beers, she showed up and he couldn't help but smile. She looked gorgeous in a simple green cotton dress that stopped at her knees. Her hair was pinned back a bit and her eyes seemed to be ten times brighter thanks to the dress. She stood in the doorway while looking around the room and Don made his way over to her before any other men had the chance. She smiled when she saw him and said, "Fancy meeting you here, sergeant."_

"_You look beautiful," he told her._

_She blushed at his blatant honesty, looking down with a smile. "Thank you. You clean up quite well yourself."_

"_So, do you, uh, do you wanna dance or get a drink or something?"_

_Before she could respond, several men from Easy had joined them and every last one was sporting his own sly look. Skip was the first to speak up. "Well, would you look at what we got here? Malarkey with a woman and a pretty one no less? Any of you boys believe it?"_

_A chorus of "no's" came from the men and Emma couldn't help but giggle a bit. Don just scowled at his best friend and slapped him upside the head. He turned to her and said, "Ignore these guys. They've got no idea what their talking about."_

"_Hey sweetheart, what you doin' with a bum like him?" Bill Guarnere asked her in his deep Philly accent, smiling like the sly dog he was._

"_Shut up, Gonorrhea," Don said, flushing with embarrassment a bit. _

"_Having a good time," Emma replied, slipping her arm through Don's with a sweet smile._

_The men a hooted their laughter as Skip said, "I like this girl Malark. She's a keeper."_

"_Come on, let's go dance before they decide to talk some more." Don led her away from the men and onto the dance floor. The band began to play a slow song and the two of them danced. They made small talk and by the end of the night they had planned to see each other again the next night. _

Don was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on his door. Putting out his cigarette in the ashtray next to the bed, he slipped off the soft mattress doing his best not to wake Emma. He pulled on his boxers and went over to the door, opening it just a bit. Skip was standing in the hallway outside his room. Quietly, he asked, "What do you want Skip?"

"Well, hey there Don. It's great to see you too. How am I doin'? Not bad thanks for asking." Don just rolled his eyes at his friend before looking at him in question. "You weren't sleeping, were you? You got a dame in there?"

Don stepped into the hall, pushing Skip away as he tried to peer into the room. Closing the door behind him, he repeated, "What do you want Skip?"

"Is that girl Emma in there?" Skip asked, smirking like a fool. He seemed to have forgotten for the moment why he had come to his friend's room.

"That's none of your business."

That just made him smirk even more. "She is in there. Aw, man, what's she like, huh? She feisty?"

"Shut up, man. What do you want?"

"You missed Lip's announcement. We're heading out first thing in the morning. Leaving England for good. We're going to Holland I think."

Don swore under his breath before saying, "Okay, I'll see you in the morning."

"You two gonna have some more fun?" Skip looked at him with raised eyebrows. Don just smacked him upside the head before going back into his room, locking the door behind him. Emma was sitting up in the bed when he came back in. She looked at him curiously as she held the sheet over her chest. He felt guilt set in when he thought about what he had to tell her.

"Who was that?" she asked as he sat back down on the bed.

"Skip," he told her, running a hand through his hair. He looked over at her and continued, "We're shipping out tomorrow. Apparently we won't be coming back to England this time."

Emma didn't say anything at first. She just sat there as if she were thinking things over. After a moment, she asked, "Where are they sending you?"

He frowned as he said, "I can't tell you that."

"Right," was the soft mumbled response she gave. Then, she reached and pulled his dog tags over his head. He watched as she slipped the small ring from her finger and slid it onto the chain with the tags. She handed it back to him and he gave her a questioning look. She explained simply, "So you have something pleasant to remember about England."

Don looked at the ring that was in his hand. It was a small silver band with a single green stone in the center. He looked back up at her and pulled her to his chest. He kissed the top of her head saying, "I'm gonna come back to you as soon as this is all over."

"No you won't. You're gonna go back to Astoria and find a nice girl back in Oregon. You're going to make some girl very happy."

"I'll come back. I promise." He looked into her eyes trying to make her believe what he said.

"Don, I've known countless women of have had soldiers tell them that and then they don't come back. They either die or they go back to their real homes. Your family is going to want to see you when the war ends."

"You can come with me. My mom would love you."

"Don-"

"Emma, I promise you that after we take out Hitler and this war ends I am going to come back to you. Nothing's going to change that. Now, we could either go back to sleep or we could do something else." He smiled at her with his eyebrows raised suggestively. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she slipped her arms behind his neck and continued what they'd been up to before.


End file.
